Indian Spirit Quest #432: Warriors Hill Traditional Geocache

The Indiana Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries built by Hoosier Pioneers. In just over a year and a half, the quest has grown to over four hundred twenty caches hidden in over forty Indiana counties, and Ohio and Michigan and the hiders have grown to over twenty cacher teams, most of which of which are comprised of Dogs and their Humans. Over 900 cacher teams have logged over 10,700 finds. One cache machine found 102 ISQ caches in a single day (daylight hours only).

Photo by FallenFaerie

We have adopted this cache.Welcome to Francis Godfroy Cemetery, Erie Township, Miami County. Here is Jolly’s original Description (edited):

Located on the edge of an Indian cemetery where Francis Godfroy, last of the great Miami war chiefs lies buried.

This quiet cemetery lies on a hill overlooking the surrounding river valley. It is still an active cemetery (reserved for Native Americans only) so please be respectful. There's a lot of history recorded on the various tombstones as well as several historical markers/monuments

. Francis Godfroy was the last war chief of the Miamis and led his people during the war of 1812 and the attempts of the fledgling U.S. to remove the tribes from the area. Later he became a wealthy merchant and was instrumental in negotiating numerous treaties which benefited his people.

The cache container itself is hidden in a woodpile. No need to go poking around the grave sites. It contains a log and a pen. Not much room for anything else unless it's coin sized.

The cache is well hidden. It will take a sharp eye to detect it. Please take care to recover it as you found it. --JollyBGood

UPDATE JUNE 2006 Cache container is now a spice jar...

CHIEF GODFROY Godfroy, Francis (Palonswa)

(1788-1840)

Miami War Chief and Trader

Francis Godfroy may have been one of the leaders in a Miami counterattack on an American army led by Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell in the Battle of the Mississinewa on December 17-18, 1812, but there is no firm evidence that he played such a role.

After the War of 1812, Godfroy turned increasingly to trade, in partnership with the Miamis' principal chief, Jean Baptiste Richardville. In 1823 he had a two-story trading post built at the mouth of the Mississinewa, which was kept well stocked with merchandise. Until 1827 he alternated residences between the post, known as Mount Pleasant, and his treaty reserve in today's Blackford County, Indiana.

As a mixed-blood trader well aware of the value of land and merchandise, he became influential with Richardville in brokering the sale of tribal land at treaty councils held in 1826, 1834, and 1838. From 1818 to 1838, Godfroy was given a total of seventeen sections of land (10,880 acres) and $17,612 in payment for services as chief and for the debts of tribespeople to his trading post, as well as a house and other gifts.

Though Godfroy was well rewarded for his services as an intermediary between the Miami tribe and American officials, he was no mere pawn of American interests. Along with Richardville, he was able to frustrate the efforts of General John Tipton, Governor Lewis Cass, and various Indian agents to bring about rapid land cessions and Miami removal.

In conjunction with traders such as the Ewing brothers, Godfroy and Richardville were able to wrest much larger payments for land ceded by treaty and to postpone the Miamis' removal longer than that of most other midwestern tribes. Godfroy, Richardville, and another Miami chief named Meshingomesia were able to get exemption from removal for their families. These small family groups of Miamis became the core population of today's Indiana Miami tribe.

In 1830, Francis Godfroy was elected war chief of the Miamis, though the post was largely honorary at that time. He died in May 1840 at his Mount Pleasant trading post and was buried nearby. The Godfroy cemetery continues as a Miami burial ground today. Through his two wives he left a large number of descendants. A large man, he dressed in a mixture of European and native clothing, often wearing a vest and waistcoat over a ruffled shirt, with a breechcloth, leggings, and moccasins. He was pictured by two amateur artists, James Otto Lewis and George Winter.

Godfroy was a key figure in the continuing persistence of the Indiana Miamis as a tribe through his landholdings and the leadership of his descendants. After his death, his treaty grant surrounding Mount Pleasant became a refuge for landless Miamis returning from Kansas after Miami removal in 1846.

His youngest son, Gabriel (Wapanakekapwa, "White Blossoms"), became a leader of the Indiana Miamis until his death in 1910. His many children and grandchildren married among all the Miami kinship groups to the extent that over one-fourth of the current Indiana Miami tribe can claim descendancy from him. Later descendants have continued in leadership roles in the tribe to this day.

Ira Sylvester Godfroy (Metocina, "Indian"), a great-grandson of Godfroy's, was a chief of the Indiana Miamis from 1938 to 1961, and was a leader in gaining tribal awards in Miami land claims.

Another great-grandson, Clarence Godfroy (Kapapwah, "Looking over the Top"), was a noted Miami storyteller and one of the last fluent speakers of the Miami language.

In 1977, in federal circuit court in South Bend, Indiana, another great-grandson, Oliver Godfroy (Swimming Turtle), won tax exemption on seventy-nine acres of remaining Francis Godfroy treaty ground.

PATRICK

FIND LOGS ON THIS CACHE THAT INDICATE NIGHT CACHING WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE!!

The cache container is very small. BYOP. You MUST sign the log to claim a Smilie. If you cache at night, or don't sign the log, or reveal the additional hint in your log, or don't fulfill any additional requirements, your find log will be deleted without notice... The cache is not located near a grave... If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out.

None genuine without this official SixDogTeam seal. Digital photographs taken by Lead Dog, (C) 2006 by RikSu Outfitters with Kodak equipment, unless otherwise noted.

"Indiana Spirit Quest" is brought to you by the following fellows of GEOISQ*: SixDogTeam (Earthdog Patrick, Lead Dog, Wheel Dog) Kodiak Kid, THE SHADOW, Team Shydog, Rupert2, Torry, ~Mystery Dog~, Team Tigger International, bbSurveyors, Dover Duo,Los Xile, Prairie Partners, WilliamsFamGC, Bean Blossom Gang, Team Itchy & Scratchy, Wishbone 86, krisNjoe, Maria Sharapova, Bikinibottomfeeders, Awsome Ev and the 501 Gang. If you are interested in spreading the Quest to your neck of the woods AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, email SixDogTeam.

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** THIS IS A GENUINE INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST CACHE**

DESPITE WHAT SOME NON-ISQ CEMETERY CACHE PAGES MAY SAY, YOU ARE SUBJECT TO ARREST IF FOUND IN A CEMETERY AT NIGHT IN INDIANA IN MOST ALL JURISDICTIONS.

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